The World; The Kuwaitis Who Stayed Have Some Scores to Settle

By YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM

Published: March 10, 1991

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia—
EVEN as Kuwaitis celebrated along the shoreline drive in the first blush of liberation last weekend -- dancing on top of their cars, clapping to the sound of Arab music -- there was, behind the euphoria, a burning anger in the eyes and the voices of those who had just emerged from what they all described as eight months of hell.

In many ways they looked like sheltered people who had just been wrenched from a more innocent world. More than anything, the shock of the violence they had suffered at the hands of the Iraqis, the disillusionment with their Government's mediocre performance and the rage they feel toward fellow Arabs who invaded their land -- most particularly Iraqis and Palestinians -- will shape the future of Kuwait, as much as will any of the rosy plans for reconstruction being woven by Kuwaiti officials.

For those who stayed and endured the horrors of occupation, part of the anger is focused on their own society and Government. There is deep resentment of the many Kuwaitis who managed to spend the months of occupation in the relative comfort and security of exile. This promises to create new divisions in Kuwaiti political life, and a new willingness to demand a voice in the policies of their rulers.

The depth of feeling is perhaps most evident in rage expressed against the Iraqis and Palestinians.

"I think the Iraqi people, not Saddam Hussein, should pay for this," said 34-year-old Ahmad Abdallah as he stared at the smashed windows of the Kuwait towers, the symbol of the country, with the scorched hulks of luxury buildings behind him. A Sense of Betrayal

Said 60-year-old Issa Ibrahim: "As far as I am concerned I want the Palestinians to leave today, before tomorrow. They have lived among us as brothers and neighbors for 40 years and they turned against us the moment the Iraqis came."

"Even if the al-Sabah family and the Government say the Palestinians can stay," he added, "I am telling you that the people of Kuwait will insist, and will make sure, that every single Palestinian must leave Kuwait."

As they begin to take stock of the earthquake that has shaken their lives, Kuwaitis are mostly shocked by the abrupt end of an era during which they glided through life, their pockets filled with money and their homes filled with servants; this is the life that ended when they watched Kuwait being dismantled and its oil wells destroyed.

In financial terms, it is too early to put a price tag on reconstruction; conservative estimates are that it may cost well over $40 billion just to recreate the basic infrastructure and return Kuwait's vital oil industry to its prewar condition. The Heaviest Burden

With some 600 of the country's 900 oil fields on fire, and with all its pipelines, oil-loading ports and refineries destroyed, this task alone will take from 18 months to two years.

But however heavy the financial burden, the greatest challenge facing Kuwait's rulers will be how to re-establish control over a society that has been fundamentally transformed by nearly eight months of war and occupation.

Among other things, the bulk of the estimated 1.2 million expatriate workers who ran the country's power generation plants, water desalination facilities and transport fleet, as well as those who taught at its schools, swept its streets and ran its luxury hotels, are gone. With no facilities to operate, they are not likely to return soon -- except, perhaps, to help put out oil fires and restore essential services at much higher wages, since they will be working under hardship conditions.

As many as 400,000 of these expatriate workers were Palestinians. Only half that number remain in Kuwait, and their ability to stay is now questionable, to say the least.

Last week, while Kuwait's Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Abdelrahman al-Awadi, was asserting that most Palestinians did not collaborate with the Iraqi occupiers and would not suffer punishment, the view of virtually everyone encountered in Kuwait City was decidedly different, and echoed the bitterness of Mr. Ibrahim.

At the same time, it is questionable that the ruling Sabah family and the small elite of merchant families who once dominated Kuwaiti politics without effective challenge can regain their lock on power.

Of the estimated 600,000 Kuwaitis who had residences in the country when Iraq invaded last August, only 200,000 remain inside. Waiting to Return

The Government, which was returning last week while the Emir, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, remained in a luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia, is clearly discouraging many Kuwaitis from rushing back home.

This is being done partly because there is not enough food, water and electricity in Kuwait. But another reason is that the Government is still taking stock of the damage that its hold on power suffered when it fled the country in the face of invading Iraqi troops.

When all Kuwaitis eventually do go home, they will find a hardened core who stayed behind and now feel they earned a greater voice in deciding the future of the country. And that, presumably, will mean some sort of change to make the government more representative.